Muzaffar Hassan | |
|---|---|
| مظفر حسن | |
 | |
| Commander-in-Chief of thePakistan Navy | |
| In office 1 September 1969 – 22 December 1971 | |
| President | Yahya Khan Zulfikar Ali Bhutto |
| Vice President | Nurul Amin |
| Preceded by | Syed Mohammad Ahsan |
| Succeeded by | Hasan Hafeez Ahmed |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Muzaffar Hassan 1920 Lucknow,Uttar Pradesh,British Indian Empire Present-dayIndia |
| Died | 2012 (aged 91–92) Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan |
| Citizenship | British Subject(1920–1947) Pakistan(1947–2012) |
| Awards | .png) Hilal-i-Quaid-e-Azam Sitara-e-Pakistan Sitara-i-Khidmat |
| Military service | |
| Branch/service |  Royal Indian Navy(1941–1947) Pakistan Navy(1947–71) |
| Years of service | 1941–71 |
| Rank |  Vice Admiral |
| Unit | Navy Executive BranchS/No. PN. 073 |
| Commands | Western Naval Command Commander Karachi (COMKAR) |
| Battles/wars | |
Muzzafar Hassan (Urdu:مظفر حسن; b. 1920–24 May 2012[1][2])SPk,HQA,Sk, was aPakistan Navy senioradmiral who served as the lastCommander-in-Chief ofPakistan Navy from 1969 until 1972, serving under firstPresidentYahya Khan and then under PresidentZulfikar Ali Bhutto.: 199 [3]
He is notable for commanding the Pakistan Navy innaval events in thewar withIndia in 1971 and was dismissed from hismilitary service and relieved from the command of the Navy over the allegations proved in the light ofWar Enquiry Commission by theJudge Advocate General of Navy. His termination came along with the commanders ofarmy,Lieutenant-GeneralGul Hassan andair forceAir MarshalA.R. Khan in 1972. He was succeeded by the Vice-AdmiralHasan Hafeez Ahmed following his termination.
After attending theRashtriya Indian Military College (RIMC), he gainedcommissioned as aMidshipman in theRoyal Indian Navy in 1941 in the Executive Branch.[4] He participated in theWorld War II as an officer in the Royal Indian Navy on the behalf of theUnited Kingdom on theEuropean front, and was sent to attend theBritannia Royal Naval College after theend ofWorld War II in 1945.[4] After graduating in thestaff course degree, he returned toBritish India and subsequently promoted asLieutenant in the Royal Indian Navy and decided to opt forPakistan as an aftermath ofpartition of British India, also the same year.[4] Hassan was among the first twenty naval officers who decided to join theRoyal Pakistan Navy (RPN) as a Lieutenant with aService number PN.0073 that was listed in the seniority list sent by the Royal Indian Navy to Pakistan'sMinistry of Defence.[5] He was said to be an excellenthockey player in the navy where hecaptained the navy's hockey team against the Indian Navy's hockey team; theRPN's hockey team won by a margin of five goals to one secured againstRIN's team.[6]
In 1952, he was promoted asCommander and commanded thedestroyer, thePNSTughril along withPNSTippu Sultan commanded byCaptain M.A. Alvi.[6] There, he accompaniedGovernor of Punjab,Abdur Rab Nishtar, on aHajj mission led by Pakistan Navy inMecca,Saudi Arabia.[7] His career in the Navy progressed in the 1960s when he was promoted asRear-Admiral in 1965 after participating in thesecond war with India.[4]
In 1967, he was appointed as Commander ofWestern Naval Command andCommander Karachi (COMKAR) in 1968 at theNavy NHQ.[4] In 1969, his nomination tocommand the Navy was approved when AdmiralS.M. Ahsan was promoted asGovernor of East Pakistan with a promotion to the rank asVice-Admiral.[4] As Commander-in-Chief of Navy, he frequently paid visit toEast Pakistan to review the operational readiness of the Navy in 1969–71.[8][9] During this time, he also served as military adviser to theSoutheast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO).: 28 [10]
In 1971, he led the Pakistan Navy against theIndian Navy but thewar ended with the devastating effects on Pakistan Navy which lost the number of warships off the coast of Karachi with no cover from thePakistan Air Force (PAF). TheNavy NHQ was located inKarachi which came under intense attacks by theIndian Navy and theIndian Air Force which crippled the Navy.[4] The casualties inflicted to Navy included the 408 personnel dead at sea and ~3,000 personnels including 1300 naval officers were held asprisoners of war.: 140 [11] Many of his requests to retaliate against the Indian Navy were rebuffed by theAir MarshalAbdul Rahim Khan who reportedly quoted: "Well, old boy, this happens in war. I am sorry your ships have been sunk. We shall try to do something in the future.": 89–90 [11]
After thewar, he was subsequently dismissed from hismilitary service and relieved from the command of the Navy on 22 December 1971 along with the chiefs of army and the air force.[4] He, along withLieutenant-GeneralGul Hassan andAir MarshalAbdul Rahim Khan were forcefully retired from their commission on 3 March 1972 in a stand up military trial led by the combinedJAG Branch.[4]
After his dismissal from the military service, Hassan permanently settled inDHA Society inKarachi and was the first president of the Defence Society Residents Association (DSRA)–aneighborhood watch– from 1981 to 1990.[4] Throughout his retirement, he avoided thenews media to offer any comments on thefall of Dhaka and died of an old age from a prolonged illness and died on 24 June 2012.[1][2] The news of his death went unnoticed in the media and was buried inKarachi War Cemetery.[2]
| Military offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Commander-in-Chief, Pakistan Navy 1969 – 1972 | Succeeded by |
Chiefs of Naval Staff of thePakistan Navy | ||
|---|---|---|
| Commander-in-Chief (Two-to-three-star admirals) |  | |
| Chiefs of Naval Staff (Four-star admiral) | ||
| Vice Chiefs of Naval Staff | ||